Sources: Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks agree on 8 years, $111M

Outfielder Corbin Carroll and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on an eight-year, $111 million contract extension, sources familiar with the deal confirmed to ESPN, tying one of the top prospects in baseball to the team through his prime seasons.

The deal includes a ninth-year club option, sources said.

Carroll, 22, debuted last year and lived up to the hype that had built up during his ascent to the big leagues. In 32 games, he hit .260/.330/.500 with four home runs, 14 RBIs and a pair of stolen bases. Still Rookie of the Year-eligible, Carroll is regarded as the favorite by oddsmakers going into 2023.

D-backs could be 1st team impacted by Bally Sports ownership bankruptcy

The Arizona Diamondbacks could be one of the first teams impacted as Diamond Sports Group prepares to file for bankruptcy.

The operator of the 19 Bally Sports regional television networks has continued to pay its rights fees to every Major League Baseball team with the exception of the Diamondbacks, reports John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.

Diamond released this statement: “We’ve been making our rights payments to teams with the exception of the Diamondbacks, where we have exercised a contractual grace period in order to maximize flexibility, especially given that we do not have DTC rights. We are continuing to broadcast games and are operating our business as usual.”

Ourand reports that the grace period to pay the D-backs ends at midnight on Thursday.

He adds that Diamond has not paid the D-backs because the deal is extremely team-friendly in comparison to other clubs. It also runs through 2035.

‘Bush League!’ Radio Announcer Destroys Arizona Diamondbacks in Hilarious Slow Burn of a Rant for Not Providing Info About Their Players

However, when they arrived for the contest against the Giants, the Diamondbacks did not furnish Miller with a roster of the players they brought for the game. The long-time broadcaster, best known as the voice of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball in the late ’90s and early 2000’s, did not hold back words about Arizona’s management.

“I have to guess the D-Backs decided ‘the heck with the big leagues; let’s just not be a big-league team for the split-squad,’” Miller said. “They have sent no public relations people over here, no information about who the manager is or anything at all about it.”

“If they don’t want to be a big-league team, we’ll just treat them like a sandlot team. They gave us no information about anything. So, one of those guys in a red shirt is managing, and one of their right-handers on the mound,” he said.

Diamondbacks To Sign Andrew Chafin

The Diamondbacks have agreed to a reunion with Andrew Chafin, as the veteran left-hander will rejoin his original team on a one-year deal with a club option for the 2024 season.  Chafin will earn a $5.5MM salary in 2023, and Arizona’s club option is worth $7.25MM (with a $750K buyout).  Up to $1MM in bonus money is also available for Chafin if he makes at least 55 appearances in 2023.  Chafin is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Chafin was drafted 43rd overall by the D’Backs in 2011 and he spent his first seven MLB seasons in an Arizona uniform before being dealt to Chicago in a 2020 deadline swap.  That initial stint with the Diamondbacks led to mostly positive numbers, as Chafin logged a 3.68 ERA over 271 2/3 innings in his first go-around with Arizona, though he was struggling (albeit in the small sample size of the abbreviated 2020 season) at the time of his trade to the Cubs.

D-backs to bring back veteran RHP Zach Davies

The D-backs have a deal in place to bring back right-hander Zach Davies, a source told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert on Wednesday. The club has not confirmed the deal, which will guarantee Davies $5 million and could pay him up to an additional $3 million in incentives.

Davies, who will turn 30 on Feb. 7, posted a 4.09 ERA across 27 starts last season, his first with the D-backs. The eight-year veteran, who has also pitched for the Brewers, Padres and Cubs, bounced back last year after posting a career-high 5.78 ERA in 2021 with Chicago.

Davies is 58-53 with a 4.14 ERA over 182 career starts.

Longoria agrees to 1-year deal with D-backs

Evan Longoria is heading to the D-backs on a one-year contract, a source told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert on Friday. The club has not confirmed the deal.

Longoria, 37, was on the free-agent market for the first time in his 15-year career. He spent the previous five seasons with the Giants before the club opted to pay him a $5 million buyout in lieu of picking up his $13 million club option.

Though injuries have limited Longoria to just 170 games over the past two seasons combined, he’s still proven to be a serviceable third baseman. He’s slashed .252/.333/.466 (.799 OPS) with a 119 OPS+ and 27 home runs in those 170 games, all while playing slightly above-average defense with one Out Above Average from 2021-22.

Sources: Blue Jays near trade for Diamondbacks’ Daulton Varsho

The Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks are finalizing a trade that will send outfielder Daulton Varsho to Toronto for top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., sources told ESPN on Friday.

After an offseason in which the Diamondbacks have sought to deal from their outfield surplus and the Blue Jays from their surfeit of catchers, the sides came together on one of the biggest deals of the winter and filled glaring needs for both.

Varsho, 26, broke out in 2022 with 27 home runs and well-above-average defense in center field and right field. One of the Diamondbacks’ four young left-handed-hitting outfielders, along with Corbin Carroll, Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas, Varsho batted .235/.302/.443 and stole 16 bases.

Moreno, 22, is widely regarded as a top-10 prospect in baseball because of his elite bat-to-ball skills and throwing arm. He showcased both during a cup of coffee with the Blue Jays this year, when he hit .319/.356/.377 in 73 plate appearances, struck out just eight times and threw out seven of 17 runners.

Diamondbacks, Scott McGough Agree To Two-Year Deal

The Diamondbacks have agreed to a two-year contract with right-hander Scott McGough, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The former Marlins right-hander has spent the past four years pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where he’s solidified himself as a quality late-inning reliever. The 33-year-old McGough, who also won a Silver Medal pitching for the United States in the Olympics, will now return to the Majors for the first time since 2015.

McGough has just 6 2/3 innings of Major League experience, during which he yielded seven runs on a dozen hits and four walks with four strikeouts. However, he’s now spent four seasons with NPB’s Yakult Swallows, logging a combined 2.94 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate against a 7.6% walk rate. The 2022 season was his finest in Japan, as McGough notched personal bests in ERA (2.35), saves (38) and walk rate (6%). He’s also upped his strikeout rate over the past two seasons in NPB, jumping from 21% in 2019 to 26% in 2020 before peaking at a combined 28.5% from 2021-22 — his first two seasons as a full-time closer.

Padres, Diamondbacks Among Teams Interested In Xander Bogaerts

Xander Bogaerts is part of a loaded shortstop class, and a number of teams have checked in with his representatives at the Boras Corporation. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports the Diamondbacks and Cubs have expressed interest, while adding that previously-reported suitors like the Phillies and Dodgers are in the mix. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller recently checked in with Scott Boras about Bogaerts’ willingness to play a position other than shortstop. Boras, however, flatly rejected the possibility; the agent tells Rosenthal “Xander is playing shortstop” and denied that San Diego would prefer to move him off the position.

San Diego’s interest in Bogaerts isn’t a new development. Marino Pepén listed the Padres as a suitor last week, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post has suggested they’re involved in the top of the shortstop market more generally. The Friars are seemingly serious enough in their pursuit to gauge Bogaerts’ amenability to move off the position.

Kyle Lewis trade Diamondbacks Mariners

The Diamondbacks needed an outfielder?

The Mariners and D-backs have reached an agreement that will send 2020 American League Rookie of the Year Award winner Kyle Lewis to the D-backs in exchange for catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel, a source told MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer.

AFL performances impacting rankings: Pipeline Inbox

Given that he was a Top 100 Prospect before his health issues, does Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad’s solid 2022 season and great AFL performance get him back into the Top 100 conversation?—Chris W., Harrisburg, Pa.

I always caution about reading too much into Fall League performance because it’s a small sample and the hitters are significantly better than the pitchers. In Kjerstad’s case, I’ll make an exception. Because he came down with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, he didn’t make his pro debut until two years after the Orioles made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.

Kjerstad faced better arms than he ever had before in the AFL and won MVP honors while hitting .357/.385/.622 and leading the developmental circuit in hits (35), doubles (nine), extra-base hits (15) and total bases (61). He offers big left-handed power and while his K/BB ratio was 31/5 in 104 plate appearances, scouts believe that didn’t reflect any flaws with his swing or pitch recognition. He’s not afraid to fall behind in the count while zeroing in on specific pitches and zones early in at-bats, and he can make some refinements to that approach.

One evaluator I spoke to thought Kjerstad was the best prospect in the AFL, ahead of even Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker, who ranks No. 6 on the Top 100. He was one of the top five prospects in the league and that definitely will put him in the Top 100 conversation when we update the list again in January.